Google Cloud SQL vs MongoDB Atlas
Google Cloud SQL is cheaper across every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | Google Cloud SQL | MongoDB Atlas | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $9.37/mo | $9.00/mo | 1× MongoDB Atlas |
| Storage | $0.170/GB-mo | $0.250/GB-mo | 1.5× Google Cloud SQL |
| Free tier | No | Yes | — |
Source: Google pricing (May 2026) · MongoDB pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | Google Cloud SQL | MongoDB Atlas | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | $13 | $14 | Google Cloud SQLsaves $1.23/mo (9%) |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | $94 | $134 | Google Cloud SQLsaves $40/mo (30%) |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | $349 | $509 | Google Cloud SQLsaves $160/mo (31%) |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
Google Cloud SQL
by Google
Managed MySQL, Postgres, and SQL Server on Google Cloud, billed per instance-hour with automatic storage growth that is easy to leave running unnoticed.
MongoDB Atlas
by MongoDB
The managed service from MongoDB itself, with a permanently free shared tier and dedicated clusters priced per instance size across three clouds.
Free tier: M0 shared cluster with 512 MB, always free
Common questions
- Is Google Cloud SQL or MongoDB Atlas cheaper in 2026?
- Google Cloud SQL is cheaper in all 3 modelled workloads.
- Which has the better free tier, Google Cloud SQL or MongoDB Atlas?
- MongoDB Atlas does — M0 shared cluster with 512 MB, always free. Google Cloud SQL bills from the first unit of usage.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.